Lauren's post made me think about this. I think her idea is such a good one for us.

Another new thing I'm going to try to do this year is to go to Target only once (or maybe twice!) per month. I'm going to try to just shop monthly at that kind of store. I think it will help me not spend too much on "household" items.

Quilting.

Shopping at Trader Joe's once a month only.

We eliminated Walmart years ago. Now I'd like to eliminate Target and/or Kmart. I just have to figure out where to buy the few things we do get there.

I would like to really learn how to be a better cook. I tend to get bored easily with cooking and then we eat out. I think this would be better for my family's health AND budget.

1. learn how to sew
2. stick to the grocery budget
3. no needless trips to walmart/kmart/etc

Many of my things aren't new but rather things I fell off the wagon from doing when we had our contracting nightmare that left us living with my folks for 3 months when we bought this house. It has taken me this long to get back to the swing of things which is pathetic but oh well, at least I am finally at the point.

The one big thing I want to incorporate is to get in the habit of going to a large town 40 min. away that has better food choices, organics, Costco, etc... Where I live we have been taken over by two big chains (Wal-Mart, Meijer, and Kmart as well) and I am really displeased with all of their practices. There is one small Spartan store here that I do go to occassionally but their prices are considerably higher so I don't do my full grocery shopping there.

I also want to nail down the whole menu plan thing. I have done it before but have always petered out with it. I also want to do this to make sure we aren't wasting anything since we have a tendency to forget what we have in the fridge and end up throwing things away.

I am also in the biggest loser challenge so I will be incorporating some new healthy living techniques into my routine including walking the dogs more often, eating more veggies, etc....

I was up late last night putting together an organizer for myself that includes homeschool schedules, daily chore lists, meal planning, and monthly budget sheets. I've been feeling very out of sorts because of how disorganized I have become since Sarah's birth. I'm going to keep track of everything I spend and stick to a grocery budget. I'm also going to try very hard to stay out of Target/Kohls/etc. And I'm only going to the thrift store when I have specific items in mind that I need to look for. I keep winding up with all kinds of stuff that I only buy because it is cheap and I need to stop doing that. All it does is leave me with bags of things that I don't have any use for and wind up getting rid of it all anyway.

Oh and I'm also going to be packing dh's lunch every day and only eating out on special occasions (birthdays, etc).

My "new" thing is to try not to make too many changes at once. :drop: I know. I am the queen of multitasking and biting off more than I can chew. But if all works out I will (hopefully) have 2 new, significant-time-eating jobs by early February, and if all doesn't work out, I'll still have at least 1 plus heavy work on more writing.

I'm trying to focus this year on something simple and yes, new for us in terms of actually being able to follow: making and following the zero-based budget. Tied in with that is that idea of divvying up the checking accounts so we pay bills out of one and spend daily out of another. Just basically, reining in control of spending as our income goes up, keeping things planned and well-thought-out, and trying to sock away as much money as we can (or deciding to pay off secured debts with it).

we're only going to order in/eat out once per week, opposed to every other day (which is uber expensive with 7 people).

also going to make a wkly list of clothing items (there's always something needed) and keep my eyes peeled for them secondhand or on clearance where i work (kohl's).

my goal for the grocery budget is to spend LESS THAN $800 a month on food, and LESS THAN $100 eating out.

for US, this is a good start.

also going to make a wkly list of clothing items (there's always something needed) and keep my eyes peeled for them secondhand or on clearance where i work (kohl's).



That's a great idea. This is the first year I've really felt the pinch of one or more of the kids needing and item of clothing, what seems like all the time. For a long time, we just seemed to have enough or get gifts from Grandma or something. My oldest got new clothes last year. That felt hard. Now all three of my boys plus Maya need things often.

I don't work that close to retail, but I'm going to try to really watch how things are going in stores so I can get the best deals. I do shop a lot online though for clothes. My kids are younger though and don't mind what I pick for them. :)

DH is on board and we are a-go with the money makeover. I put together our budget last night (I've been working on it for awhile, but actually sat down and crunched numbers after spending time before gathering info). We are pushing bigtime--hoping to pay off at least 20,000 in debt, and hoping we can manage more. So, we are reigning it in bigtime.

We are planning to do envelopes. I have talked about doing this for several years (since reading Dave Ramsey), but DH is now finally REALLY on board.
Our ultimate goal is to after the next two years buy some land either with our "dream house" or build. We won't be paying of our mortgage or probably even our student loans, but we will be getting everything in order. We will be paying off our van with our tax return and rolling that into our snowball. So, that will get us off to an awesome start.

Other things, getting back on the thrifty wagon, cooking from scratch, etc. I have strayed so far, and I used to consider myself pretty good at all of this. No eating out, no calling for pizza. Paying attention to things so that there is less waste in our house of all kinds.

Here's something new--(not for little eyes)--I'm going to have sex with my DH at least 3 times a week. Perhaps that sounds pathetic, but, ugh....babies and nursing have taken their toll.

Here's something new--(not for little eyes)--I'm going to have sex with my DH at least 3 times a week. Perhaps that sounds pathetic, but, ugh....babies and nursing have taken their toll.

heya, can i steal this one from you?

:lol:

We are going to work really hard at not going to Wal-Mart. We are starting small by challenging ourselves to avoid it in January and then will go from there. It is too easy to go there to pick up groceries or whatever, so we are looking at alternatives, preferably local ones.

We are giving up walmart and fast food! I am going to try to get back to no convenience type foods and using cloth rather than paper products. It's sort of all under the heading of reducing our trash. Toward the end of this year the subject of trash kept coming to the front of my attention. From the trash island in the middle of the ocean to the sea turtles eating plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish.

heya, can i steal this one from you?

:lol:

You sure can! :0)

I' d really like to try compacting so we're giving it a go. Also doing a big shift in our food sources.

Having a BUDGET.

I kid you not. With both of us working f/t we always just paid until the bank was empty, got paid, start over.

This year 2008 is the year of focused debt repayment and budget.

I want to learn needlefelting and sewing.
I need to get the house unpacked, and I'm decluttering in the process.
Eating out less, fast food no more than twice a month, meal planning.
Once we're unpacked, I'm making a cleaning schedule as well (at this point it's a matter of cleaning as I can around the boxes)

We're going to try to cut our Costco trips to every other week instead of every week. Might have to buy the little chest freezer to make that work, which would mean cleaning out the corner that holds all of my projects. Cutting Costco trips in half would cut our fast food consumption in half, as we are committed to one fast food trip a week.